By Ellen Eisenberg

By Ellen Eisenberg, Executive Director of The Pennsylvania Institute for Instructional Coaching (PIIC)

Thursday, October 16, 2014

When a group
of new coaches met during a small group professional learning conference, I
asked for some burning questions that they needed answered as they began their
new role as instructional coaches. Hands down, the most frequently asked
question revolved around the issue of confidentiality and how to answer an
administrator who had good intentions but was asking the wrong question.
Instead of asking what the administrator could do to support teachers, the
administrator asked what happened between the coach and teacher during their
planning consultation and subsequent classroom visit.

Administrators
need to know what is going on in their building but must balance that with the
sensitivity about confidentiality. They need to collect first-hand information
about instructional delivery, classroom management, teacher needs, and student
learning. This can be accomplished as they walk around the building and engage
in classroom observations, teacher talks, and student focus group conversations.
This data cannot be collected through conversations with the coach, even if the
conversation boasts a positive description of what happened in an individual’s
classroom.

So, how does
a coach finesse this kind of conversation? First of all, building awareness of
the coaching role as a confidential conversation between professionals is
critical. The coaching model needs to be rolled out to the faculty with the
coach and administrator side-by-side, each giving the other support and lending
credibility about how coaching works. Next, the coach must reiterate to the
teachers that the work between the coach and teacher will not be shared unless
the teacher shares the conversation with the administrator absent the coach.
Thirdly, the administrator must not ask the coach questions about any
individual teacher’s performance, knowledge base, skill set, or instructional
needs. Instead, the administrator should co-plan with the coach the kinds of
professional development offered to all teachers and then make time to walk
around the building to observe the level of implementation without involving
the coach in the conversation.

When coaches
do not directly answer administrators, they are not being insubordinate; they
are being discreet, confidential, and respectful of their teaching colleagues.
And, they are diplomatically reminding administrators to be visible and walk
around their building.

Have you ever been
asked to reveal some confidential information? How did you handle it?

Monday, October 6, 2014

Last week was a wonderful learning experience for me. The PA
Institute for Instructional Coaching hosted the first of three professional
learning conferences of 2014. This is a multi-day statewide conference with
coaches, mentors, administrators, and other school leaders as participants. The
three-day conference focused on the theme of listening as a critical element of
instructional coaching and school change. Coaches need to be fully “present”
and must be great listeners to help their colleagues identify areas of strength
and areas of need in order to move forward with their teaching goals and school
wide improvement.

Listening helps coaches give “permission” to their teaching
colleagues to discuss problems of practice, to collectively problem-solve, and
to help each other become critical friends. When one listens to another person
without being judgmental or opinionated, the conversation is respectful,
mutual, and without ego. No one is right; all points of view are respected,
voice and choice are exercised, and achieving goals are the primary objectives.

Remember when you first started teaching? You were a student
teacher and had the support of your cooperating teacher. How often did your
cooperating teacher remind you not to talk over students, not to answer for the
students, and not to ask another question until the students finished answering
what you just asked? The same scenario is recognizable when instructional coaches
work with teachers. Ask probing questions that give teachers the opportunity
to think about their thinking and the classroom decisions that they make. Allow
them time to delve into their own thinking and question their own motives for
teaching specific content and for the instructional delivery of that content. Give them opportunities to reflect.

Coaches need to ask themselves questions as well: what am I doing as a coach to help teachers
change and improve their practice and what
am I doing as a coach to help teachers improve student engagement and outcomes?
Coaches cannot answer these questions unless and until they engage in several
moments of silence where they just listen and support as they guide the
practice that happens in each classroom. Two ears and one mouth… listen twice
as much and say half as much!!